Interface heat transfer between crossing carbon nanotubes, and the thermal conductivity of nanotube pellets

摘要

We theoretically compute the interface thermal resistance between crossingsingle walled carbon nanotubes of various chiralities, using an atomisticGreen's function approach with semi-empirical potentials. The results are thenused to model the thermal conductivity of three dimensional nanotube pellets invacuum. For an average nanotube length of 1 $\mu$m, the model yields an upperbound for the thermal conductivity of densely compacted pellets, of the orderof a few W/m-K. This is in striking contrast with the ultra-high thermalconductivity reported on individually suspended nanotubes. The results suggestthat nanotube pellets might have an application as thermal insulators.